What is Probate?

Probate is a long and expensive court process that families must go through if their late loved one had more than $150,000 in assets that were not automatically passed to the family through a trust, joint ownership, or beneficiary designations, upon the loved one’s death. Probate is approximately 12-18 months long, open and public, and very expensive. For this reason, families usually plan to avoid their family being subject to Probate by establishing a trust.